By Kira: These excerpts of interviews were a very good depiction of what life was like during the depression. The stonecutter, who seemed very educated in his department of work, gave a clear explanation of how hard the work was that every person was expected to do all of the time. He didn’t even work just to get money – he did it to survive a day longer at a time.Anna Novak, the house worker, worked for less than 75 cents an hour. Even though money was worth more back then, it was no where near worth enough to make a living. Her employers were very harsh. Bernice, Rent Party Hostess, absolutely despised hotels and thought that they were disgusting and disrespectful to rent your house out to dirty strangers. Eventually, though, she got so desperate that she absolutely had to suck it up and rent her rooms away for a very cheap cost because to her, low self-respect is much better than not having any money at all.
By April:
After reading all of the exerts it really showed me alot about the peoples lives. When i read about the iron worker i was really shocked about how his job really was. He said that he went to working knowing that he could die, that statement really suprised me becuase these days i dont think people go to work knowing they could be killed. The exert on the pack house worker showed about the racism in his time. He wanted to be in the AFL union (Amalgamated Butchers and Meat Cutters) but they rejected him and he knew that it was because he was an African American. When they were interviewing the man at colonial park he was discussing how he felt about rich and poor. He said that to him there was no difference and he felt that God made everything equal. One of the most intresting ones was the one on the fish seller. He told about how he worked selling fish and how he had to be creative so he would make up jingles and rhyme he says it really helped him. Another fasinating exert was women and work, this one was about how this women Mrs. Marie Haggerty was a maid. She talked about how they were hired on looks and if they looked honest. She told us that she was even tested by the people! One day when she was making a bed they put five dollars down and she knew people dont just leave five dollars around, so she knew they were testing her. I found from these exerts that how these people lived during the Great Depression era is much different from how we live now.
By Eric:
After reading the excerpts from the websites, I discovered that significance of these people is great. In **Mr. Garavelli Stonecutter**, I was astonished at this man. Here is a guy who is attempting not to catch the disease sicila. He kept repeating that men are dieing from sicila. He kept repeating himself almost like Mr. Stengel. This is significant because this disease is not really around and if it is still around, there is medication to cure it. The next excerpt I read was **Jim Cole Packing House Worker**, this showed racism. I realized this when the AFL union rejected him for mainly being black. This is significant because though racism wasn't as high until a few years later, it still existed as you can tell. I also read **Man at Eddie's Bar**. This was about a guy, who seems like he is drunk. It is significant because there is some discrimination. I mean a guy talking about himself living in New York for 25 years and he is saying a New Yorker. The last excerpt I read was **Mrs. Marie Haggerty Maid** . This was about a maid talkinig about her role as a nurse and maid. This is significant because women had more then one job as you can see.
By Megan:
After reading the excerpts from the website you provided, I was able to find out what these people did and what they thought about the questions that they were asked. These people werent just boring old people put on this earth, they are of great inportance that maybe you wouldnt find all that great. They had to work to earn a good living, but even harder to earn money in the great depression era. They had to work at jobs that they didnt nessessary care to much for, but because they needed money they did anything to recieve an income. People suffered from racial comments and that only made it hard for them. Life wasn't easy at that point in time.
For example, there was a housewife that made quilts. Her name was Mrs. Mayme Reese. She was born in South Carolina and had 4 children. She would take her quilts to the county fair, of course the quilt that had the prettiest color and pattern, her and her friends would exibition them. Also I read the interview of a meat apckaging worker. His name is Jim Cole. He was asked the question " What do you do in the packing house?" he responded by saying "I'm working in the Beef Kill section. Butcher on the chain. Been in the place twenty years, I believe. You got to have a certain amount of skill to do the job I'm doing. Long ago, I wanted to join the AFL union, the Amalgamated Butchers and Meat Cutters, they called it, and wouldn't take me. Wouldn't let me in the Union. Never said it to my face, but reason of it was plain. Negro. That's it. Just didn't want a Negro man to have what he should. That's wrong. You know that's wrong." Jim Cole is an African American, in Chicago Illonoise. Finally, I read an interview about a department store worker. Her name is Irving Fajans. This was the time when they were trying to organize the union. The interviewer of the article asked if Macy's employees unionized when you worked there? Her replied by saying "When I first started there [at Macy's], they were just beginning to try to organize, and everything pertaining to the union had to be on the q.t. If you were caught distributing leaflets or other union literature around the job you were instantly fired. We thought up ways of passing leaflets without the boss being able to pin anybody down. Sometimes we'd insert the leaflets into the sales ledgers after closing time...In the morning every clerk would find a pink sheet saying: 'Good Morning, how's everything...and how about coming to Union meeting tonight...' or something like that. Another idea we had--swiped the key to the toilet paper dispensers in the washroom, took out the paper and substituted printed slips of just the right size! We got a lot of new members that way--It appealed to their sense of humor."
Exploring Oral History Day 1
By Kira:
These excerpts of interviews were a very good depiction of what life was like during the depression. The stonecutter, who seemed very educated in his department of work, gave a clear explanation of how hard the work was that every person was expected to do all of the time. He didn’t even work just to get money – he did it to survive a day longer at a time. Anna Novak, the house worker, worked for less than 75 cents an hour. Even though money was worth more back then, it was no where near worth enough to make a living. Her employers were very harsh. Bernice, Rent Party Hostess, absolutely despised hotels and thought that they were disgusting and disrespectful to rent your house out to dirty strangers. Eventually, though, she got so desperate that she absolutely had to suck it up and rent her rooms away for a very cheap cost because to her, low self-respect is much better than not having any money at all.
By April:
After reading all of the exerts it really showed me alot about the peoples lives. When i read about the iron worker i was really shocked about how his job really was. He said that he went to working knowing that he could die, that statement really suprised me becuase these days i dont think people go to work knowing they could be killed. The exert on the pack house worker showed about the racism in his time. He wanted to be in the AFL union (Amalgamated Butchers and Meat Cutters) but they rejected him and he knew that it was because he was an African American. When they were interviewing the man at colonial park he was discussing how he felt about rich and poor. He said that to him there was no difference and he felt that God made everything equal. One of the most intresting ones was the one on the fish seller. He told about how he worked selling fish and how he had to be creative so he would make up jingles and rhyme he says it really helped him. Another fasinating exert was women and work, this one was about how this women Mrs. Marie Haggerty was a maid. She talked about how they were hired on looks and if they looked honest. She told us that she was even tested by the people! One day when she was making a bed they put five dollars down and she knew people dont just leave five dollars around, so she knew they were testing her. I found from these exerts that how these people lived during the Great Depression era is much different from how we live now.
By Eric:
After reading the excerpts from the websites, I discovered that significance of these people is great. In **Mr. Garavelli Stonecutter**, I was astonished at this man. Here is a guy who is attempting not to catch the disease sicila. He kept repeating that men are dieing from sicila. He kept repeating himself almost like Mr. Stengel. This is significant because this disease is not really around and if it is still around, there is medication to cure it. The next excerpt I read was **Jim Cole Packing House Worker**, this showed racism. I realized this when the AFL union rejected him for mainly being black. This is significant because though racism wasn't as high until a few years later, it still existed as you can tell. I also read **Man at Eddie's Bar**. This was about a guy, who seems like he is drunk. It is significant because there is some discrimination. I mean a guy talking about himself living in New York for 25 years and he is saying a New Yorker. The last excerpt I read was **Mrs. Marie Haggerty Maid** . This was about a maid talkinig about her role as a nurse and maid. This is significant because women had more then one job as you can see.
By Megan:
After reading the excerpts from the website you provided, I was able to find out what these people did and what they thought about the questions that they were asked. These people werent just boring old people put on this earth, they are of great inportance that maybe you wouldnt find all that great. They had to work to earn a good living, but even harder to earn money in the great depression era. They had to work at jobs that they didnt nessessary care to much for, but because they needed money they did anything to recieve an income. People suffered from racial comments and that only made it hard for them. Life wasn't easy at that point in time.
For example, there was a housewife that made quilts. Her name was Mrs. Mayme Reese. She was born in South Carolina and had 4 children. She would take her quilts to the county fair, of course the quilt that had the prettiest color and pattern, her and her friends would exibition them. Also I read the interview of a meat apckaging worker. His name is Jim Cole. He was asked the question " What do you do in the packing house?" he responded by saying "I'm working in the Beef Kill section. Butcher on the chain. Been in the place twenty years, I believe. You got to have a certain amount of skill to do the job I'm doing. Long ago, I wanted to join the AFL union, the Amalgamated Butchers and Meat Cutters, they called it, and wouldn't take me. Wouldn't let me in the Union. Never said it to my face, but reason of it was plain. Negro. That's it. Just didn't want a Negro man to have what he should. That's wrong. You know that's wrong." Jim Cole is an African American, in Chicago Illonoise. Finally, I read an interview about a department store worker. Her name is Irving Fajans. This was the time when they were trying to organize the union. The interviewer of the article asked if Macy's employees unionized when you worked there? Her replied by saying "When I first started there [at Macy's], they were just beginning to try to organize, and everything pertaining to the union had to be on the q.t. If you were caught distributing leaflets or other union literature around the job you were instantly fired. We thought up ways of passing leaflets without the boss being able to pin anybody down. Sometimes we'd insert the leaflets into the sales ledgers after closing time...In the morning every clerk would find a pink sheet saying: 'Good Morning, how's everything...and how about coming to Union meeting tonight...' or something like that. Another idea we had--swiped the key to the toilet paper dispensers in the washroom, took out the paper and substituted printed slips of just the right size! We got a lot of new members that way--It appealed to their sense of humor."